The U.S. government has opened a foremost concentrated effort on online patent violation, grabbing dozens of locations connected to unlawful file distribution and fake goods.

Violent flow locations that connect to unlawful copies of music and movie files and locations that sell fake goods were detained this week by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security. Visitors to such sites as Torrent-finder.com, 2009jerseys.com, and Dvdcollects.com located that their common locations had been put back by a message that said, “This field name has been detained by ICE–Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a convulsion warrant issued by a United States District Court.”

“My area has been detained with no any preceding grievance or notice from some court!” the proprietor of Torrent-Finder informed TorrentFreak, which scheduled over 70 domains that were actually component of the huge attack.

DHS spokespersons did not right away reply to an appeal for remark.

The attacks came after a Senate committee unanimously approved a controversial proposal prior this month that would let the government to drag the plug on Web sites blamed of helping piracy. The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) permits a Web site’s area to be detained if it “has no provable, commercially important reason or utilize except” presenting or giving way in to illegal copies of copyrighted works.

The suggestion has gathered sustain from dozens of the biggest content companies, as well as video game maker Activision, media firms NBC Universal and Viacom, and the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America lobbying groups. On the other hand, opponents for instance engineers and civil liberties groups say the COICA might balkanize the Internet, put at risk free speech rights, and put in danger lawful Web sites.

Prior nowadays, a Swedish court upheld the copyright conviction of the originators of The Pirate Bay, an infamous file-sharing location. A U.S. district judge issued an injunction in opposition to Lime Wire, the company that worked the well-liked file-sharing software LimeWire in October. In May, a judge granted summing up decision approving of the music industry’s claims that Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, dedicated patent violation, connected in unjust rivalry, and induced patent violation.